In a
mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the melted butter and brown
sugar together, starting at lowspeed and
gradually increasing to as high a speed as possible without danger of
the ingredients flyingout of
the bowl. Cream until mixture increases slightly in volume and is
noticeably lighter in color andtexture
(generally, the longer the better, so walking away to measure out other
ingredients is fine).

In a
separate bowl (or large measuring cup, something with a spout), whisk
together the 2nd set of wetingredients.

In
another bowl, sift together the 1st set of dry ingredients.

In
yet another bowl, mix together the 2nd set of dry ingredients.

Turn
mixer down to low and slowly drizzle in 2nd set of wet ingredients.

Add 1st
set of dry ingredients in 3 equal batches, waiting between batches
for ingredients to incorporate,and
stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.

Add
2nd set of dry ingredients about a ½ cup at a time. The dough will
become very thick and will start tomove up
the sides of the bowl in a single mass. Stop the mixer and scrape back
down as necessary.

Use a
1-ounce scoop/disher to measure out the number of cookies you are
baking now onto a greasedcookie
sheet, leaving around 2 inches between cookies. Slightly flatten each
cookie with the bottom of aglass or
other flat, smooth surface, creating a disk.

Bake
at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 11 to 15 minutes, or until they begin to
brown at the edges.

Remove cookie
sheet from oven and after a few minutes, move cookies to a wire rack or
plate to cool.

Scoop
the remaining cookie dough onto a large baking sheet (or as many baking
sheets as needed) inthe same
manner as before, except that the cookies can be close to each other as
long as they don'ttouch and
you do not need to flatten the cookies.

You
may also freeze individually-shaped cookies for 24 hours, then transfer
to large zip-top bags orother airtight freezer containers, and
return to the freezer. Take out as many as you would like to bake at any time in
the future. Frozen cookies are ready to go in the pre-heated oven when
they are soft enoughto flatten slightly, which is generally
about the time it takes to pre-heat the oven.